Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Too much to go into detail, so here is a list of our most recent adventures.

We went to visit Loch Ness. Took the tour, saw no monsters.

Drove to Dunrobin Castle, owned by the clan Sutherland. We had a bit to eat in the tea shop, but discovered that we had arrived just as things were closing, and it was too late to tour the castle. They said we could bring our receipts back the next day, and tour it then.

We drove back to Inverness, and tried to visit a shipping center, but everything was closed. We need to adjust our expectations with respect to shopping hours. (Karrie - Who knew that the only thing left open in the Highlands after 4:00PM was the Pub! Even McDonalds and Pizza Hut closed in the Inverness Mall by 4:30PM)

The next day, we drove back to Dunrobin, and the tour of the Castle was terrific. The smoked salmon sandwiches at the tea shop, by the way, are fantastic!
Karrie- Brent didn't mention that he played his pipes in front of the castle, and as soon as he started tuning up the "OFFICIAL" castle piper jumped out the front door and started playing.  Sheesh... some people are soooo competitive!

 This is a picture of the castle's original fire engine on display in the tea room, and the gardens outside were amazing.

While at the Castle, we also saw a falconry demonstration. Karrie wants an owl now (they had owls in addition to falcons).  (Karrie - Who wouldn't want one?  Just look at this cute little guy only 7 month old - completely adorable even when eating mice head first!)

On the way back from the Castle we stopped at the Glenmorangie distillery for a taste test. Very good, but we decided we all liked our scotch more smoky that the sample we tried.

The next day, we drove down to Balmoral Castle, the residence of the Queen when she is in Scotland. Again, an amazing tour.

Had another scotch tasting, this time at the resort, along with a scotch tutorial. We sampled 3 types of scotch, one from the Islay region of Scotland named Cragenmore. Very smooth and nice, but again, not very smokey. The next one was from Speyside, near where we are staying, named Highland Park. Very good with just the right amount of smoke. The last one was from an Island Distillery, don't recall the name, but it was so smokey it was almost like biting into a charcoal briquette. Karrie didn't care for it at all, but on occasion, I wouldn't mind having a dram now and then, but it wouldn't be for frequent consumption.

After the whiskey tasting, the resort had Scottish Night. I dressed in my kilt, and they had a very nice dinner (I tried haggis for the first time. Not bad, really), and a bagpiper and accordianist. Now normally, I don't much care for the accordian, but the musician we had was very accomplished, and put on an entertaining show. At the break, I talked with the piper (who was all of 13 years old), and mentioned I played the pipes, so they talked me into bringing them down, and after we adjusted the tuning on each of our pipes, we played a duet. They said I was the very first piper they had ever had coming from America so this was a noteworthy event for the Lochenhully resort.

Yesterday (Thursday), we drove to Edinburgh (prounounced, I am told, Edin-burrrrrrrrrr), and toured the Castle there. Now when I was in Germany, I saw a lot of castles. They were mostly ruined, but I have to say the castles in Scotland are amazing, and Edinburgh Castle is the most amazing yet. For one thing, it's HUGE. Still in use by the British Army, as well.

After touring the castle, Karrie and Barbara both had one request. They HAD to have British High Tea. We tried to get in at the Balmoral Hotel (which looks like a castle itself), but reservations were required, and alas, we had none. Just down the street, however, we found small hotel that served high tea as well, so we sat at a window, across from the Sir Walter Scott Memorial, sipped our tea, ate our scones with clotted cream and jam, and had a far better time than if we HAD gotten in at the Balmoral Hotel.

Today, we went back to Inverness to do the shopping we missed earlier in the week, which was a lot of fun. The rest of the day will be spent packing and resting in preparation for our drive down to Lancashire England for our next week of adventures.